Movies you have seen lately

[Xard]

sorry, ment SPACIAL EFFUCTS

[Pidesco]

lolyes?

 

Explain yourself. You and Sand has been first persons ever to prefer Temple over Crusade as far as my experience shows. It is also the most critically slacked movie of three and no wonder

 

Third one has Sean Connery as Indy's dad. That alone makes it better than stupid CGI-fest that was Temple of Doom

 

It had a great balance between the high adventuring and the scariness, the three leads had great chemistry, the dinner scene balanced the tense conversations with the food comic relief really well, the bridge scene was awesomely tense, ditto for the room with the spikes, the humor was great, the beginning with Anything Goes and the poisoning was at least as good as Raiders' beginning.

 

Finally, and I'm going out on a limb here, the reason why most people you know like The Last Crusade better than Temple of Doom is because it was the first Indy film most people your age saw in theaters. Feel free to lambast me if I'm completely wrong.

[Tale]

Holy crap. There are people (emphasis on it being plural) that thought Temple of Doom was not the worst of the OT? Holy zombie Jesus on a cracker, this place truly is hell.

 

Finally, and I'm going out on a limb here, the reason why most people you know like The Last Crusade better than Temple of Doom is because it was the first Indy film most people your age saw in theaters. Feel free to lambast me if I'm completely wrong.

 

Yeah, it totally couldn't have anything to do with Temple of Doom's lack of Nazis, familiar Judeo-Christian mythos, or globe trotting adventure.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Tale

[Blarghagh]

It had a great balance between the high adventuring and the scariness, the three leads had great chemistry, the dinner scene balanced the tense conversations with the food comic relief really well, the bridge scene was awesomely tense, ditto for the room with the spikes, the humor was great, the beginning with Anything Goes and the poisoning was at least as good as Raiders' beginning.

 

Finally, and I'm going out on a limb here, the reason why most people you know like The Last Crusade better than Temple of Doom is because it was the first Indy film most people your age saw in theaters. Feel free to lambast me if I'm completely wrong.

 

How odd that it's the lack of balance between comedy and darkness that makes me think of it as worse than the other two. It felt like two movies smushed together, one dark and scary, the other lighthearted and funny. Also, the three leads had okay chemistry I guess, but two of those leads were very annoying. They were nothing compared to the joyous giant Sallah and ESPECIALLY Karen Allen's can't-bring-me-down Marion Ravenwood (as opposed to Willie Scott the shrieking drama queen). And how does Mola Ram compare to Tot and Belloque? To each his own, I guess.

 

But the biggest reason as to why all other Jones movies are leagues behind the original Raiders is the amount of successes Indy has in them. Oddly enough, THE strength of Raiders is how inconsequential Jones is to whatever happens. Right at the beginning it's established that Indy is a failure - he loses the Idol to his mortal enemy! It's basically a series of cliffhangers which leave the hero worse off than he was before. What movie hero is bad enough to let that happen to him? Yet, because he tries so hard, you can't help but root for him. In the other movies I'm never rooting for Indy, which is a shame because he's the main character. In Temple of Doom I wasn't rooting for anyone because nobody was interesting enough. In Last Crusade I was rooting for Sean Connery. And in the new one I was actually rooting for the villainess! It's quite a feat to have an audience rooting for an action hero, and only Raiders manages this.

 

(For the record, I never got to see any Indy movie in theaters until the new one came out).

 

EDIT: Also, I think Raiders freshness might have had quite a bit to do with ad-libbing, whereas the others are obviously scripted. The famous scene where Indy just shoots the guy who does fancy sword moves was ad-libbed, for example.

Edited May 27, 2008 by TrueNeutral

[Pidesco]

Lack of Nazis? What kind of complaint is that? It's not like there have been dozens Indy movies filled to the brim with Nazis. The same goes for your other complaints. Until a couple of weeks ago there were three Indy movies of which, two had Nazis, familiar Judeo-Christian mythos, and globe trotting adventure. And the Last Crusade had those mostly because Raiders was more successful than Temple, and Spielberg decided to play it safe and connect it as much as possible to the original. Note that The Last Crusade wasn't any better received than Temple.

 

 

Finally, "OT"? When the hell did Indian Jones become a trilogy? It implies that there was some sort of continuity or master plan when there was none.

 

 

PS.: I enjoyed The Last Crusade a great deal.

 

 

Edit: @TrueNeutral: I agree that Raiders was far and away the best of all the Indy movies. What I don't agree is putting The Last Crusade in a pedestal in relation to Temple of Doom.

[Tale]

Lack of Nazis? What kind of complaint is that? It's not like there have been dozens Indy movies filled to the brim with Nazis. The same goes for your other complaints.

 

Liking Temple of Doom less because it did not feature Nazis, familiar mythos, and globe trotting adventure isn't about liking Temple of Doom less because it was different. It's about liking Temple of Doom less because it doesn't feature many of the features that caused people to particularly like the other two movies.

 

These aren't "complaints." They're features of the other two films that helped give them a character people liked. A character ToD lacked.

 

Finally, "OT"? When the hell did Indian Jones become a trilogy? It implies that there was some sort of continuity or master plan when there was none.

 

Trilogy implies nothing of the sort. Trilogy only means that there were three related works. Trilogy quite literally means "any series of three related works."

 

Note that The Last Crusade wasn't any better received than Temple.

 

At the time, maybe. In the context of now, Temple of Doom is looked upon as the worst of the original trilogy.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Tale

[Blarghagh]

Edit: @TrueNeutral: I agree that Raiders was far and away the best of all the Indy movies. What I don't agree is putting The Last Crusade in a pedestal in relation to Temple of Doom.

 

True enough, I suppose. I personally only like Last Crusade marginally better than Temple of Doom, mostly because it goes out of its way and attempts to recreate some of the magic from the first, mostly by playing it too safe.

[Xard]

Yeah, The Last Crusade actually gathers from uncaring to positive reviews

 

Temple of Doom's are almost all negative

[Tale]

Edit: @TrueNeutral: I agree that Raiders was far and away the best of all the Indy movies. What I don't agree is putting The Last Crusade in a pedestal in relation to Temple of Doom.

 

True enough, I suppose. I personally only like Last Crusade marginally better than Temple of Doom, mostly because it goes out of its way and attempts to recreate some of the magic from the first, mostly by playing it too safe.

I thought Last Crusade was considered the greatest departure for the series. It had a more humorous tone with the interactions of Indy and his father. Of course, you're right in that it does attempt to recreate some magic from the first, but they definitely don't seem to play it too safe.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Tale

[qt3.14159]

I saw Raiders in the theatre when I was 7 and watched it so many times on VHS we wore out our tape.

 

I saw ToD in the theatre when I was 10 and was grossly disappointed. Looking back on it now, it's probably not bad, but it didn't have any of the stuff that made Raiders so great. No one respected it at all.

 

I saw Last Crusade in the theatre, opening night, in 1988 (yes, I was 14) and it was and is far and away my favorite. It was then that I realized that what I liked so much about Indy (as TrueNeutral said) was that he was always having to scramble, never really having any success and yet still managing to "win" in the long run...

 

To say that the Last Crusade wasn't well received at the time is just WRONG. Everyone loved it, especially compared to the crapfest that ToD was considered to be. Maybe some didn't appreciate it's lightness in comparison with Raiders, but the vast majority of people loved it anyway.

[random n00b]

I just came back from the movies, watched Indy4. It was kinda... meh. It's perfectly possible that the movie just didn't live up to the unrealistic expectations I unconsciously created due to Indiana Jones being my favorite childhood hero, however. But it seemed... uninspired. Some scenes (chief among them the one with the nuke) seem forced and out of place. And I think they got the character management wrong as well, at the end it's just too many "good guys" that detract from the lead, and don't really add anything. Also, it seems that all that made

Marion

a cool character is gone. Finally, the fake russkies seem... too fake. I'm hoping my impression on that will change when I get to see a non-dubbed version. I can't seem to get enough of Cate Blanchett, though.

 

All in all, this is the weakest Indy flick to me.

 

 

Temple of Doom is much better than The Last Crusade.

Congratulations, my friend. You just won the Internets.

 

 

Finally, and I'm going out on a limb here, the reason why most people you know like The Last Crusade better than Temple of Doom is because it was the first Indy film most people your age saw in theaters. Feel free to lambast me if I'm completely wrong.

Haaahaha! Ouch.

 

But seriously, yeah. ToD is the perfect mix of silliness, adventure, and horror. Club Obiwan is probably the best opening of all four as well. Arguing that it lacks nazis and map overlay scenes is just nitpicking, really.

Edited May 27, 2008 by random n00b

[Kelverin]

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) - I really liked this flick, well acted and pretty funny considering what the film is based on. 7/10

 

The Big Lebowski (1998) - Comic gold. 9/10

The Dude: **** sympathy! I don't need your ****in' sympathy, man, I need my ****ing johnson!

Donny: What do you need that for, Dude?

 

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Not bad, but then again not very good either. Two kings of movie making working together, with as much money as they can get and they produce this "film" Hopefully they do another one to wash the taste from my mouth. Great/average/Great/average... so the next one has go to be great Right?? right???

6/10

 

 

Actor/Director Sydney Pollack passed away today.

RIP

[Tale]

Arguing that it lacks nazis and map overlay scenes is just nitpicking, really.

Or actually very far from. Nazis are a more respectable and interesting group of villains than a cult. And his globetrotting was far more than overlays. Globetrotting to various locales such as Egypt and Europe has become a mainstay and popular feature of Adventure as a genre and often pervades the same named genre in video games. When the scope of travel is great, it can deliver a more powerful sense of adventure to the audience.

[random n00b]

What do you mean, more "respectable"? Given the situation of isolation in ToD, a (rather numerous) cult is a perfectly credible threat. As for interesting, well. I can't think of other group that's been used more to represent iconic evil as a whole, but that doesn't make nazis "interesting" by itself. More like the opposite, in fact.

 

I see what you mean about the lack of traveling in ToD, but the way I see it, it's just another plot device that can be used to spice up a story, not a must-have.

[Tale]

What do you mean, more "respectable"? Given the situation of isolation in ToD, a (rather numerous) cult is a perfectly credible threat. As for interesting, well. I can't think of other group that's been used more to represent iconic evil as a whole, but that doesn't make nazis "interesting" by itself. More like the opposite, in fact.

 

The credibility of the threat is not an issue. It's not simply about danger to Indy, any idiot with a gun or knife can pose that.

 

The cult in ToD tried way too hard to seem evil. All the heart ripping out, slavery, mind control, and oppressive caves with heat. But they had to. There's no way easy way to convey the evil of that group. They're wholly unfamiliar. But it meant they had to spend a lot of time on it and it left them no room for subtlety or the audience letting down their guard and respecting the villains as characters of complex motivation.

 

Nazis, on the other hand... show a swastika and we know they have to be stopped. Then you can have debonair businessmen and intellectual talks about history all you want. It's something I also liked about the Russians in the new one. Despite Blanchett's constant attempt at impersonating Natasha from Rocky and Bulwinkle.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Tale

[Meshugger]

The Big Lebowski (1998) - Comic gold. 9/10

The Dude: **** sympathy! I don't need your ****in' sympathy, man, I need my ****ing johnson!

Donny: What do you need that for, Dude?

 

Actor/Director Sydney Pollack passed away today.

RIP

 

/me salutes for Mr.Pollack...

 

Anyhoo, The Big Lebowski is one of my favourite movies, highly recommended for someone who appreciates a comedy where the characters are humorous by their traits and actions, not by telling jokes.

 

And about the Tempe of Doom. It lacked an adventure, you know, like searching for a treasure around the world, finding clues and such. The main villain was some backwater tribe using voodoo and child-labor to find their precious rock, mildly interesting. Not only that, the treasure-part was really downplayed, with Indy out saving the children more in the foreground (i hated that little kid, and i was a kid when i saw it!). Nice scene at the bridge at the end though.

 

Last Crusade had Indy traveling across the globe searching for the Holy Grail of all of things. He had to look for clues, hunting down old templar burial tomes and so on. And there was some backstabbing from the love-interest, and of course there was the nazis, the arch-main villain used perfectly as they were one of the most dangerous regimes ever lived. Also, Sean Connary played his dad excellently.

 

I will not even comment on Indy 4 much, since the main points have already been discussed. Needless to say here's the verdict:

 

Raiders>>Last Crusade>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Temple of Doom = Indy 4

[Dark_Raven]

I saw Indy 4. It was ok but action stars need to call it quits once they are past their prime. Ford and the others should have done this at least ten years ago.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Did Harrison star in any particularly great movie other than the Indiana Jones series and Star Wars?

 

EDIT: While searching for actors who survived being in the Star Wars movies I found out they were making a fourth Terminator movie. *sigh*

Edited May 28, 2008 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[Sand]

I have to say my order of enjoyment with these movies goes like this: Temple of Doom>Raiders of the Lost Ark>Kingdom of the Crystal Skull>The Last Crusade.

[Tale]

Did Harrison star in any particularly great movie other than the Indiana Jones series and Star Wars?

 

EDIT: While searching for actors who survived being in the Star Wars movies I found out they were making a fourth Terminator movie. *sigh*

The Jack Ryan movies were successful. I thought Fugitive was really good.

[Deraldin]

I just finished watching a 4 hour miniseries version of The Andromeda Strain on A&E. Only complaint I really have was the number of damn commercials. Commercial breaks should not happen every ten minutes of a 4 hour show.

[theslug]

I saw most of the first installment (atleast I imagine so - they were just entering the facility getting foamed up all nakey like and what not and man giblets and female parts which sadly made the slug even more slug-like, lets just say gravity and age has been unkind to many). I enjoyed some of the camera work and tone but the show was sadly pretty lame. I really wanted it to be good and also finding out it was a miniseries didn't do much for me. The casting and script could have been much better as well....Jin as the scientist was fine but the chick from Scrubs. Sorry lady you need to learn to act your way out of a double dragon baby maker annihilation punch from yours truly so that your acting chops never get passed down to a second generation, I'll admit you do a good job playing the unbelievably sarcastic b*** from scrubs but something thats serious, no go honey. It also got waaaaaaay too freakin preachy with a jab at homeland security and biochemical testing. Not to mention the part where the guy runs up to the humvee and they die and he starts screaming hysterically. Yeah never good television, not ever or even in a million years will the d bag screaming his lungs out on his knees ever be good television.

 

I should be a freakin writer/director/producer. These guys should be ashamed. Prison rape for the whole lot of 'em.

[Hurlshort]

Did Harrison star in any particularly great movie other than the Indiana Jones series and Star Wars?

 

EDIT: While searching for actors who survived being in the Star Wars movies I found out they were making a fourth Terminator movie. *sigh*

The Jack Ryan movies were successful. I thought Fugitive was really good.

 

Yep, not quite sure what more you could ask for from an actor. He's been pretty damn successful. The last few years he's just been showing his age, so he no longer fits the action star mold like he used to. He didn't age all that well either.

 

He did that Amish movie too. That was a good one. And that one where he loses his memory and turns out to be a total prick, but he realizes how bad he was and he changes. That was a life lesson. Someday I hope some people on these forums lose their memory and re-read their posts.

[Kelverin]

Did Harrison star in any particularly great movie other than the Indiana Jones series and Star Wars?

I am a fan of these films he stared in

 

Air Force One (1997)

The Fugitive (1993)

Witness (1985)

Blade Runner (1982)

The Frisco Kid (1979

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Force 10 from Navarone (1978)

Heroes (1977)

The Conversation (1974)

American Graffiti (1973)

[theslug]

Someday I hope some people on these forums lose their memory and re-read their posts.

You don't pull any punches do you? :'(